Free Loom Alternatives in 2026: 12 Screen Recorders Compared (Free and Paid)

Last updated April 2026 — refreshed for current tool versions, Atlassian migration fallout, and 2026 pricing.

Loom's Atlassian acquisition rattled a lot of teams in late 2025: price jumps of up to 10x for former Creator Lite users, repeated outages, and forced account migrations. This guide covers 12 verified Loom alternatives—free and paid—with confirmed 2026 pricing, real feature limits, and a decision tree to help you pick the right one in under two minutes.

What changed in 2026 (read this first if you used Loom before)Loom's free tier got more restrictive: Starter plan caps you at 25 total videos per person, 5-minute recordings, and 720p quality. The former Creator Lite role was discontinued; those seats auto-upgraded to full paid seats.Atlassian pricing shock: Business plan is now $18/user/month; Business + AI is $24/user/month. Teams that had 100 Creator Lite users went from ~$240/year to $24,000/year overnight when migration forced them to paid seats.Three documented Loom outages in Q4 2025: A 6-hour performance incident (Oct 27), a widespread video outage (Nov 17), and a 7-hour audio failure (Nov 19). This accelerated the search for alternatives.Cap 1.x launched as a credible open-source alternative: Free local recording with no watermarks, $8.16/month (annually) for cloud features and AI transcription.OBS Studio 32.x added AV1 hardware encoding (NVIDIA Ada Lovelace, AMD RDNA 3) and WebRTC support — still completely free.Screencastify updated plans: Free plan now caps at 10 videos (was unlimited), up to 30 minutes each; paid tiers start at $7/user/month.

TL;DR Comparison Table

Fully Free Loom Alternatives

These tools cost nothing to use for core recording functionality. No trial period, no watermark on free exports (except where noted), and no credit card required.

1. Cap — Open-Source, Privacy-First

• Website: cap.so
• Platforms: macOS, Windows
• Free plan: Unlimited local recordings, full Studio editor, export to any format. No commercial usage, no cloud storage, no AI features.
• Paid (Cap Pro): $8.16/month billed annually ($12/month monthly). Adds unlimited cloud storage, shareable links, AI titles/transcription/summaries/chapters, custom domain, team workspaces, and a Loom video importer.
• One-time license: $58 lifetime or $29/year for desktop-only commercial use with up to 5-minute shareable links.

Cap is the most direct Loom substitute for teams that want open-source software they can self-host. The GitHub repo is actively maintained. The Pro cloud plan is priced below every comparable closed-source tool on this list. Trade-off: community support only on the free tier, and some enterprise features (SSO, SAML) require a custom quote.

2. OBS Studio — Power User Standard

• Website: obsproject.com
• Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux
• Latest version: 32.1.2 (released April 2026)
• Free plan: Unlimited recording, no watermarks, no file size limits, multi-source scene composition.
• Paid plan: None — OBS is and always has been free and open-source.

OBS 32.x introduced AV1 hardware encoding for NVIDIA Ada Lovelace and AMD RDNA 3 GPUs, WebRTC support for browser-based guest collaboration, and Qt 6.8 framework improvements. The main limitations versus Loom: no built-in shareable link generation, no viewer analytics, and a steep initial setup curve (scene/source configuration). OBS is ideal for technical teams that already use it for live streams and want one tool for both.

3. Microsoft Clipchamp — Built Into Windows 11

• Website: clipchamp.com
• Platforms: Windows 11 (built-in), web browser
• Free plan: Unlimited recordings, 1080p export, no watermark. Includes basic trimming, text overlays, transitions, and a webcam + screen simultaneous recording mode.
• Paid: Bundled with Microsoft 365; adds 4K export, stock media library, and premium filters.

If you're on Windows 11, Clipchamp is pre-installed and ready to go. Microsoft confirmed in their support documentation that the free tier does not add watermarks to exports. For teams already paying for Microsoft 365, the premium tier is effectively free. The main gap versus Loom: no built-in sharing analytics or viewer tracking.

4. ScreenRec — Instant Shareable Links, No Watermark

• Website: screenrec.com
• Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux
• Free plan: Unlimited recording time (requires free account), 2 GB cloud storage, instant shareable link, no watermark, HD up to 720p.
• Paid plans: Pro and Premium tiers add 1080p/4K, more storage, and commercial licensing.

ScreenRec's free tier is unusually generous: no time cap, no watermark, and shareable links that work immediately without asking viewers to create an account. The trade-off is a lack of editing tools — you get raw recording only. For async update videos where editing isn't needed, ScreenRec is one of the cleanest free Loom replacements.

5. QuickTime Player — macOS Zero-Setup Option

• Website: Built into macOS
• Platforms: macOS only
• Free plan: Full screen recording (screen only or screen + mic), no time limits, no watermarks, saves as .mov files natively.

QuickTime is not a "tool" in the modern sense — it's a bare-bones screen recorder with no cloud hosting, no sharing links, and no editing beyond trimming. But it works offline without any account creation and produces high-quality recordings. If all you need is a quick screen capture to attach to a GitHub issue or Slack message, QuickTime is the zero-friction option on Mac.

Freemium Loom Alternatives (Free with Paid Upgrades)

These tools offer functional free tiers but place limits on video length, number of recordings, or key features like watermark removal or cloud storage.

6. Screencastify — Best for Educators

• Website: screencastify.com
• Platforms: Chrome extension (browser-based)
• Free plan: 10 videos maximum, up to 30 minutes per video. Saves directly to Google Drive.
• Starter (paid): $7/user/month (annually) — unlimited videos, 60-minute max, watermark-free, interactive elements.
• Pro (AI): $10/user/month (annually) — adds AI captions, translations to 50+ languages, 180-minute recording limit, advanced analytics.

Screencastify is purpose-built for K-12 education: it integrates directly with Google Classroom and Google Drive, supports drawing/annotation tools mid-recording, and lets teachers add interactive questions and polls to videos. The free tier shrunk in 2025 from unlimited videos to just 10, which makes the $7/month Starter tier nearly essential for regular users. For non-educators, the Google Drive dependency is a limitation rather than a feature.

7. VEED.io — Best Browser-Based Editor

• Website: veed.io
• Platforms: Web browser (no install)
• Free plan: 10-minute video exports, 720p quality, 2 AI subtitle minutes per month, 2 Gen-AI Studio videos per day. Exports include a watermark.
• Lite (paid): $12/month (annually) — 1080p, watermark-free, 5 Gen-AI Studio videos/day, 144 hours/year auto subtitles, 5 GB storage.
• Pro: $29/month (annually) — 4K, 50 GB storage, translation to 50+ languages, AI clip highlights.

VEED's key differentiator is the seamless record-then-edit workflow: recordings open directly in the timeline editor without any file upload step. It's the strongest browser-based option for teams that need auto-captions, translations, or AI enhancements applied immediately after recording. The free watermark is conspicuous enough that most professional use cases require a paid plan.

8. Descript — Best for Text-Based Editing

• Website: descript.com
• Platforms: macOS, Windows, web
• Free plan: 60 media minutes/month, 1 hour remote recording, unlimited projects. Exports are watermarked; AI features are heavily capped.
• Hobbyist: $16/user/month (annually)
• Creator: $24/user/month (annually) — most popular paid tier
• Business: $50–65/user/month

Descript's standout feature is transcript-based editing: every word in the transcript links to the corresponding video frame, so cutting a sentence from the script removes it from the video. This makes editing long recordings dramatically faster than traditional timeline editing. It also offers eye-contact AI correction and filler word removal. The free 60-minute monthly limit is genuinely useful for occasional use, but regular screen recorders will hit the cap quickly.

9. ScreenPal — Most Affordable Paid Option

• Website: screenpal.com
• Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, Chrome extension
• Free plan: 15-minute recordings, basic editing, cloud hosting with shareable links. Includes a ScreenPal watermark on free exports.
• Solo Deluxe: ~$4/user/month (annually) — watermark removal, longer recordings, cloud hosting.
• Solo Premier: ~$10/user/month (annually) — 100+ language captions, video channels, analytics.

ScreenPal (formerly Screencast-O-Matic) is the budget pick. At $4/month it removes the watermark and watermarks from recordings, adds cloud hosting, and unlocks longer recording limits. The 100+ language auto-translation on the Premier tier is a standout feature at this price point. For small teams or freelancers who need a step up from Clipchamp without paying Loom-level prices, ScreenPal hits the sweet spot.

Paid Loom Alternatives (No Meaningful Free Tier)

10. Tella — Best for Polished Product Demos

• Website: tella.com
• Platforms: macOS, Windows, web
• Free trial: 7 days
• Pro: $13/user/month — unlimited recording, AI auto-cut, 4K export, team workspace, instant sharing
• Premium: $19/user/month — adds custom branding, custom domain, video analytics, 60 FPS export

Tella is purpose-built for polished video output without video-editing expertise. Its multi-layout recording lets you switch mid-recording between bubble-cam overlay, side-by-side, picture-in-picture, and full-screen views — so you can do a webcam intro, switch to a screen demo, and close with a talking-head segment all in one take. AI auto-cut removes filler words and silences automatically. If you're creating product demos, tutorials, or onboarding videos that need to look professional, Tella produces results that take Loom four to five manual editing steps to match.

11. Vidyard — Best for Sales Teams

• Website: vidyard.com
• Platforms: Chrome extension, Windows, macOS, mobile
• Free plan: 5 videos/month, 1080p, basic sharing
• Pro: $59/user/month — unlimited videos, viewer tracking, CRM integrations (Salesforce, HubSpot), AI prospecting

Vidyard occupies a different market than most screen recorders on this list: it's a video sales tool that happens to include screen recording. The per-viewer analytics (who watched, how much, which parts they replayed), CRM sync, and AI-personalized video prospecting are features Loom doesn't offer even on its Enterprise plan. The $59/month price tag is justified only if you're in a sales or customer success role where video open rates translate directly to pipeline. For general-purpose async communication, it's expensive.

12. Screen Studio — Best for Mac Software Demos

• Website: screen.studio
• Platforms: macOS only
• Pricing: $9/month (annually) — one-time purchase options also available

Screen Studio is a Mac-only tool that automatically adds cinematic zoom, motion blur, and smooth transitions based on cursor movement — no manual keyframing required. It's the go-to choice for developers and product teams who want software demos that look like they were made by a dedicated video editor. The trade-off is macOS exclusivity and no built-in cloud hosting — you export a video file and host it yourself or upload to YouTube/Vimeo.

Tools Removed From This List and Why

The original version of this post included several tools that are no longer recommended:

• Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder — The free online version now requires downloading a launcher app on most browsers. The original 3-minute free limit and launcher dependency make it a poor choice when browser-native alternatives exist.
• Online-Screen-Recorder.com — Quality and maintenance have declined; the site's track record for reliability is poor compared to established alternatives.
• RecordCast — Limited feature development; better alternatives exist at the same (free) price point.

How to Choose: Decision Tree

Answer three questions to narrow to the right tool:

1. Do you need a shareable link immediately after recording (no file upload)?
   • Yes → Cap (open-source), ScreenRec (free), VEED.io (browser), or Tella (paid)
   • No → OBS Studio or Clipchamp work fine and are free
2. Is your budget $0?
   • Yes → Cap (local), OBS Studio, Clipchamp (Windows 11), or ScreenRec (free account)
   • Flexible → ScreenPal at $4/month for watermark-free links; Cap Pro at $8.16/month for cloud + AI
3. Do you need AI editing (captions, filler word removal, transcript editing)?
   • Yes → Descript ($16/month), Tella ($13/month), or VEED.io ($12/month)
   • No → Save money; Cap free + OBS covers most recording needs

Use-Case Quick Reference

Common Pitfalls and Troubleshooting

Watermarks on free exports

VEED.io and Descript both add watermarks on free tier exports. If watermark-free output is a hard requirement, use Cap (local), OBS Studio, Clipchamp (Windows 11), or ScreenRec (free account). Do not assume "free" means "no watermark" — verify on the tool's pricing page before recording.

Loom account migration issues (Atlassian)

If you're stuck in a login loop or can't access your Loom recordings after the Atlassian migration, the documented fix is to disconnect your Google account from Loom, clear browser cookies for loom.com and atlassian.com, and re-authenticate. If you've lost access to recordings permanently, contact Atlassian support with your Loom workspace ID. Before migrating away from Loom, use Loom's export feature or Cap's Loom video importer (Pro plan) to download your library.

OBS recording has no audio

OBS defaults to capturing desktop audio, but on macOS this requires a virtual audio driver (e.g., BlackHole) because macOS doesn't expose system audio to third-party apps by default. Windows users can capture desktop audio natively via WASAPI. Set up the audio source in OBS Settings → Audio before your first recording.

Cap recordings not syncing to cloud

Cap's free tier is local-only — cloud sync requires Cap Pro. If your recordings aren't appearing in the Cap dashboard online, check that you're signed in and on a Pro plan. Local recordings are stored in ~/Movies/Cap on macOS.

Large file sizes from OBS

OBS defaults to MKV or MP4 with lossless or near-lossless quality settings, producing very large files. For sharing, re-encode to H.264 at CRF 23 or use the built-in "Remux Recordings" feature in OBS to convert MKV to MP4 without quality loss. For cloud-first sharing, Cap or ScreenRec handle compression automatically.

A Note for Engineering Teams

If your team records architecture walkthroughs, code reviews, or onboarding videos regularly, the right screen recorder is part of your async communication stack — not an afterthought. Teams that hire remote developers often find that high-quality async video cuts synchronous meeting load significantly: a 5-minute demo recording replaces a 30-minute call when the video is clear, shareable, and searchable via transcript. Cap Pro at $8.16/month or ScreenPal at $4/month are easy wins at those budgets.

If you're building or scaling a remote engineering team and need developers who are already fluent in async-first workflows, Codersera's vetted remote developers are hired for exactly that culture. We also have a related guide on best screen recording software for developers that covers desktop-first tools with deeper technical depth.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a completely free Loom alternative with no time limit and no watermark?

Yes — several. OBS Studio is completely free, open-source, has no recording time limit, and produces no watermark. Cap's free tier is also watermark-free for local recordings with no time limit. ScreenRec's free plan (requires a free account) offers unlimited recording time and no watermark, with 2 GB cloud storage. Clipchamp (Windows 11) exports 1080p video with no watermark for free.

What happened to Loom's free plan after the Atlassian acquisition?

As of late 2025, Loom's Starter (free) plan limits users to 25 total videos per workspace member, 5-minute maximum recording length, and 720p quality. The Creator Lite seat type — which allowed free unlimited recording — was discontinued. Users who held Creator Lite seats were automatically upgraded to full paid Creator seats, which caused significant cost increases for teams with many free users.

Can I import my existing Loom videos when switching tools?

Cap Pro includes a Loom video importer tool. For other platforms, Loom allows you to download your recordings individually from the Loom library page. If you have a large library, use the Loom bulk export option or contact Loom/Atlassian support for a data export. Descript and VEED.io accept video file uploads from any source.

Is Cap really open source? Can I self-host it?

Yes. Cap is MIT-licensed and the full source code is on GitHub (github.com/cap-so/cap). The free tier runs entirely locally with no cloud dependency. Cap Pro uses Cap's own cloud infrastructure, but the Enterprise plan includes a self-hosting option where you bring your own S3-compatible bucket for video storage.

Which Loom alternative is best for recording long videos (60+ minutes)?

OBS Studio has no practical recording length limit beyond your disk space. Cap (local, free) also has no time limit. Screencastify Pro supports up to 180-minute recordings. VEED.io's free plan caps at 10 minutes per video; their paid plans remove this cap. Loom itself caps the free tier at 5 minutes.

Do any free screen recorders automatically generate captions/transcripts?

VEED.io's free plan includes 2 minutes of auto-captions per month. For meaningful transcript generation on a free plan, Descript gives 60 media minutes/month including transcription. Cap Pro ($8.16/month) includes AI transcription, summaries, and chapters. Most fully-free tools (OBS, Clipchamp, ScreenRec) do not include auto-transcription — you'd need to run your recording through a separate tool like Whisper.

What is the best Loom alternative for Mac?

For cinematic-quality software demos: Screen Studio ($9/month, Mac-only). For open-source/free: Cap. For AI-powered editing: Tella. For no-setup recording: QuickTime Player (built in, no cloud). OBS Studio is also available on macOS but requires macOS 12+ and a virtual audio driver for system audio capture.

Is Screencastify still a good choice after they restricted the free plan?

For K-12 educators with Google Workspace accounts, yes — the $7/month Starter plan is still among the most education-specific screen recorders available, with Google Classroom integration, annotation tools, and interactive quiz elements. For non-educators, the Google Drive dependency and Chrome-extension-only approach make it less flexible than browser-native tools like VEED.io or Cap.

References and Further Reading

• Loom Official Pricing Page — current Starter/Business/Business+AI/Enterprise plans
• Loom Customer Integration with Atlassian: Pricing, Billing, and Role Changes — official documentation on the Creator Lite discontinuation and migration
• Cap Pricing — Free, Desktop License, Pro, Enterprise — verified April 2026
• OBS Studio Release Blog — official changelog for 32.x series (AV1, WebRTC)
• Screencastify Pricing Plans — free/Starter/Pro tiers, verified January 2026
• VEED.io Pricing Page — Free/Lite/Pro/Business tiers, verified April 2026
• 7 Loom Alternatives in 2026 (After Atlassian's Changes) — Supademo Blog — independent review documenting outages and pricing shock
• ScreenRec Pricing — Free Forever Plan Details